Tip: The Cheapest Brush Cleaner I have ever used (and its effective too!)

A while ago, reader Joy left a reply to another reader about how she was taught in makeup school, a cheap and effective way to clean her makeup brushes (Have I mentioned how I love it when you all chip in to help each other? I start picking up gems and tips too! 😉 ) It was effective, and importantly, did not break the bank. Makeup artists go through a lot of brushes each time so it would be costly to use a brush cleaner or detergent all the time. Here’s her comment :

Another cheaper way to clean your brush faster and more effectively. Try the bar soap from Marks and Spencer or Dove. Wet the brush and glide it over the bar soap till it is soapy and rinse off. Then leave to dry on a towel. *Use only the 2 bar soaps mentioned as any normal one will leave your brushes dry

I found what she said very intriguing. Soap! I never thought of that! Incidentally, I had run out of my Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, So the next time I was out and about, I wandered down the soap aisle of the supermarket and came away with a bar of Dove soap. I opted for Dove because its (a) cheap and (b) cheap 😛 It was just slightly over RM2 so its fine if it didn’t work out. By contast, the small J&J shampoo is about RM6! So expensive! LOL!! 😛

But I have to say, Joy’s onto something because it does work a treat!

I bought the regular original White Dove mositurizing soap bar. Here’s a picture of the box. I don’t know if it looks the same everywhere in the world, but I went for the original because I didn’t want my brushes smelling of cucumber or what-have-you.

The smell is, a strong powdery scent that is quite typically Dove. If you have ever used the soap bar or its body wash, you’ll know how it smells.

So how I used it is simple:-

Wet the brushes and the soap bar.

Brush the surface of the soap bar a few times until the bristles gets soapy. It’ll lather up a little.

Brush on my palm to dislodge the colour.

Rinse

I found that it cleaned most brushes quite well, in particular if you use it for powder products. The brushes get clean quite easily. If your white bristle brushes are stained like in the picture above, then it doesn’t get it clean 100% but it gets the worst of it out. The only thing that can get it 100% white again is the Daiso detergent but I dislike that for natural hair. I’m not overly fussed as you might be able to tell, so long as its clean 🙂

For cream or liquid products, it can take longer and a bit of massaging of the bristles to get the residue out. So, for brushes that have very stubborn cream or liquid stuck on the bristles, a separate cleaner/detergent may be better. Dense brushes get clean quite well too. I was surprised that a dense kabuki type brush that I use for cheek stains/cream blush got clean quite easily. It was the concealer and foundation brushes that took the most work.

Does it dry out my brush bristles? Surprisingly, Joy was right. It doesn’t. I used this about 3-4 times to be sure and the natural hair bristles still feel quite nice. When it dries, its quite soft and the smell of the soap lingers a bit which is fine by me.

When I’m done washing my brushes, I just rinse the bar of soap, place it on a piece of sponge or in a soap dish until I need to use it again. I reckon a full bar could last a really long while. For the price I pay for a small bottle of J&J baby shampoo, I could get 3 bars of Dove soap. Talk about being economical!

So there we have it. Dove bar soap – the cheapest brush cleaner I have ever come across, that works without killing my brushes. Its cheap and effective and my brushes feel quite fine 😀

If you choose to try this, do share if it works for you too 😀

Paris B

Note: As per Joy’s comment, other soaps may dry out your brushes so she recommends only using either the Dove bar soap or the bar soap from Marks & Spencer (which I’m not familiar with)

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About Paris B

Paris B is a 40-something beauty and skincare enthusiast with a practical and very critical view of beauty products and the world of beauty. Her mission on My Women Stuff is to deliver clear, honest reviews and facilitate discussions about beauty trends and life, tempered with a healthy dose of humour. Let the buyer's remorse be ours not yours! When not testing the newest skincare creams and lotions, or playing with makeup, find her testing her culinary skills in the kitchen at Chez PB. Read more about us here or leave a comment below or connect with us on social media at Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

I find that moisturizing soaps work really well (like Dove and Johnson&Johnson baby shampoo), however they aren’t technically anti-bacterial so I don’t use them for my brushes since they don’t get out the germs that might cause infection or break outs. I didn’t even realize until a friend pointed out that Dove is a “beauty bar” and can’t be labeled as soap because it doesn’t have enough bacteria fighting ability. As much as I hate to splurge on brush cleanser, I still do to make sure I’m not risking an eye infection, haha.

I take your point Michou 🙂 However, I am personally a bit non committal about anything that proclaims to be “anti-bacterial” because I do not believe that regular soaps are any worse than an anti-bacterial soap or cleaners. Still, I only ever use my makeup brushes for myself and I keep them in the open for ease of access. Personally, I believe that regular cleaning of brushes, with any medium, is sufficient to keep it clean and breakouts or infections at bay 🙂

I’m actually using my shower cream to wash my brushes aka J&J PH5.5 Original Shower Cream. I don’t really like the almond honey or the other flavour as the smell is just not for me. Prefer something which is flavour free. Also the fact that I’m not one that likes perfume much.

It doesn’t dry out my brushes. Brushes that uses powder or liquid or cream makeup, just comes off easily with it. 😀 And cheap too. No need to buy a separate detergent to wash my brushes!

me too using my PH 5.5 shower cream and dilute it in the water and soak my brush for few minutes and rinse it off…but I wud reli wan to know which type of brusk cleanser than will not make my brush dry yet can kill all the bacterial..

Ah thanks for the Daiso tip. I only ever use it for my synthetic kabuki brushes or foundation brushes since it totally kills natural hair brushes after a while. I always used the yellow J&J shampoo. Didn’t even notice it came in different colours 😛

I haven’t used the Dove soap for face yet, but before I took it to my brushes, I had a quick shower with it and it didn’t feel dry on my skin so I figured, it’d be alright for the brushes 😀 I love how cheap it is!

I’ve tried this and I think it’s ok, but not so effective. I like Effaclar cleansing bar for dry skin by La Roche Posay, but I can’t find it on their website. Maybe it’s not available for all countries. :/ I hope you have a chance to try it. 🙂

Sadly, La Roche Posay isn’t available here at all 🙁 If I have a chance, I’ll take a look at their soap bar. Its part of the reason I decided to go with Dove because I realised its quite easily available almost everywhere 🙂

Ah that’s a coincidence! Sadly, Make Up Store isn’t available here anymore but Dove is quite easily found even at the smallest “kedai runcit” hehe… 😉 My suggestion for storing soap : Keep it away from water, drain it on a piece of sponge and let it air dry then keep it in a soap dish. It doesn’t get mushy this way. When I keep it in the shower it does, but since this is for my brushes, it stays out of the shower and its alright 🙂

The bar soap will last for very very very long. I usually wash up to 50 brushes at a time depending on how often a job or how big a job but they really last forever. It gets everything nice and clean, especially for large face powder brushes.

I gotta say, I’m really surprised that the soap doesn’t dry out the bristles. Good tip! Also shows that you’re doing a really good job here, providing a platform for your readers to interact with each other too. So kudos to both you and Joy! 🙂

I know right? I was surprised about the non drying bit too. But then Joy did say to only use either of the 2 brands mentioned 🙂 Thanks MisSmall – I do love it when readers interact. It gives me the warm fuzzies 😉

I have tried other brands like Simple face wash cleansing bar and many more gentle soap bars but it dried out my brushes so I tossed it right away. Which is why I find using only those two brands are the safest.

I’ve been using facial soap from GWP to wash my loose powder or pressed powder sponge. They are sitting there collecting dust anyway and it’s a waste to throw them out. And since they are sponge, I think they don’t mind whether the soap is drying or not… ^_^

Thank you for this awesome tip! I use J&J for my natural haired brushes and anti-bacterial hand wash or dishwashing soap (it lifts the stains like woah!) on my synthetic ones. Maybe I should “borrow” one of my dad’s Dove men+care bars. I don’t mind the masculine scent anyway 🙂